Runaway
by Black Butterflyz
Summary: (sort-of AU) While on a mission for Adam, Brennan meets Emma and they have to work together to save a lost girl. FINALLY UPDATED! Now Emma knows Brennan is a mutant, but does that change her feelings for him?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X. Summay: (sort-of AU) While on a mission for Adam, Brennan meets Emma and they have to work together to save a lost girl. But how long can he hide his Mutant side from her? And how long can he hide his growing feelings for her? A/N: Everything is pretty much the same at Mutant X except none of the episodes actually happened due to the fact that Emma is not a memeber of the Mutnat X team. It's just leader Adam and Brennan, Shalimar and Jesse. This may be a little unclear but the next chapter will explain more on the actual situation. My second MX fic - as always its B/E - hope you like it - read & review!  
  
"So, Brennan are you all clear on what you have to do?" Adam asked.  
  
"Stay low, make sure I'm not followed, don't do anything rash and don't use my powers. Yeah, I think I pretty much got it Adam," he replied.  
  
"Well, then you've already forgotten one thing which is that while you're at the university you are only to ask questions, nothing else, and be extremly cautious with what questions you ask. Don't act suspiciously in any way. Be casual, try not to check behind your back that much."  
  
"Then how am I supposed to make sure no one's following me?" Brennan asked.  
  
"Are you sure I shouldn't be going too?" Jesse asked. "Brennan can come across as a mighty shady character sometimes."  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Actually Jesse," Adam explained, "You're gonna have to do the other mission. I'm sure with Brennan's experience he would easily be able to pull off stealing the files I need, but it safer with someone who can definately get out in a second. You'll be able to walk through the walls of the house fast in case anyone comes."  
  
"And what do I get to do?" Shalimar asked.  
  
"You have to stay here and help me," Adam told her.  
  
"Ooh, a desk job. How fun," Shalimar said.  
  
Adam switched off the screen and produced a picture of a two girls and a boy from his pocket and handed it to Brennan. "Be careful with this," he told him. "It's the only picture I have of Kristin Harris."  
  
"Who are the other two?" Shalimar asked.  
  
"Her friends from high school, Leon George and Mary Reed."  
  
"And where are they?" Brennan asked.  
  
"Leon is in Scotland, he's studying there. Mary goes to the same university as Kristin. You'll probably find her when you go there."  
  
"Did they know about her mutant abilities?" Jesse asked. "Are they mutants too?"  
  
"Kristin's father was unable to answer that. He said he only found out a few months ago about Kristins mutant abilities."  
  
"How is that?" Shalimar wondered.  
  
"Well, Kritin's mother died in childbirth. It's possible that she was a mutant and hadn't told her husband, David."  
  
"Why not? You said they were married for a few years before she became pregnant," Jesse said.  
  
"I don't know," Adam admitted. "Maybe she was afraid."  
  
"Of what?" Brennan asked.  
  
"That's what we need to find out. It could have been simply that she feared David wouldn't want to be with a mutant. Or maybe it was someone else. All we know now is that Kristin is missing but there is always the possibility of kidnap. If there was someone she was hiding from..."  
  
"Like the GSA?" Shalimar asked.  
  
"Probably a similar oganization, but all I know for sure is that we have to find Kristin, before anything - or anyone else - does."  
  
All three others nodded in agreement and prepared for what they had to do. 


	2. Prologue 2

Emma flipped through her notebook. She was sitting on the grass, in the field at her university. She didn't have to look around to know she was the only one sitting alone. Her boyfriend, Tucker, had gone to Chicago for a week to visit his family there. She had a few friends at the university but no one else she was really close to. She saw the couples that surrounded her and sighed. But she soon her thoughts were interuppted by a voice softly calling her name. "Hello?" Emma asked, shocked, she stood up and looked round but all she saw were the couples.  
  
"Emma..." the voice called again.  
  
Emma picked up her books and ran behind the tree where the sound seemed to be coming from. "Hello? who is there?"  
  
"Over here..." the voice said. It sounded like a girl and it was from behind the rock.  
  
Carefully, Emma tiptoed towards it and looked over. "Mary!"  
  
"Hey, Emma," she whispered. Mary Reed was sitting cross-legged and leaning her back on the large rock that guarded all of her body from viewers behind it.  
  
"What's going on?" Emma asked clutching her books to her chest.  
  
"Kristin..."  
  
"What about Kristin?"  
  
"Something's wrong..."  
  
"You said she had the flu..." Emma didn't know what to say. "Did the doctor find something else?"  
  
"Emma...when you saw us that day, a few months back, me and Kristin - and our friend Leon - us doing something strange...we were..."  
  
Emma knelt down, worried about the girl who seemed to be shaking. "You don't have to tell me, Mary."  
  
"But I do! I mean, I want to...you didn't tell anyone when you saw us and you didn't run away. You've been so nice to us and you never ever pressured us into telling you our secret. After all that, you deserve to know...it's just I'm scared."  
  
"Of what?"  
  
"People. Bad people. You're not a bad person Emma. Don't let them take you, like they've taken Kristin."  
  
Emma was starting to feel scared too, but treid not to show it. "You're sweating badly, Mary, I have to take you inside somewhere."  
  
"No!" Mary protested as Emma tried to pull her up.  
  
"I'll take you to my dorm, you look like you need some rest."  
  
"No! I have to s-stay here," Mary clutched her knees close to her body and started to cry.  
  
"Hello?" a voice called from behind the tree. Emma looked that way and stood up quickly. "What's going on?" the girl who appeared from the front said.  
  
"Um...we were just..."  
  
"We?" she asked, looking at Emma strangely.  
  
"Yeah," Emma said and was going to gesture to Mary when she saw she wasn't there anymore. "Um..."  
  
The girl who's come rolled her eyes at Emma and walked out. Emma was left alone, but - not knwoing what else there was to do - picked up her books and followed the girl. 


	3. Chapter 1

Emma shut the door to her dorm room and peered along the corridor. There was no one in sight. She tiptoed to the staircase and jogged down it as queitly as she could. It was only nine pm so no one was sleeping yet. Most of them had gone to the Pat's birthday party. The whole building had been invited but she didn't know Pat so she didn't mind missing the party to search for Mary. Something was terribly wrong - of that Emma was certain, but she didn't want to overreact just yet. There was no point telling anyone, they'd probably think she was mad. If she didn't find anything tonight - she'd think she was mad.  
  
*  
  
"Brennan? Can you hear me?" Adam asked Brennan.  
  
Brennan spoke to his comlink, "Yeah, I can hear you Adam."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I only arrived here about an hour ago. There weren't many people around outside the building where Kristin's dorm is. One of them said its someone's birthday so everyone is going to the party."  
  
"Any sigh of Mary?"  
  
"Not really. I've seen two girls matching the basic description but up close they're definately not her."  
  
"Right. Well, Brennan, just look around outside for some sort of clue. Maybe a bit later try and see if you can belnd in at that party and look around."  
  
"Okay, Adam," Brennan said. He heard them cut the conversation off and so put his arm down and walked through the fields. Brennan saw a boys standing in front of him. He towered over Brennan and resembled a bouncer or boxer rather than a university student.  
  
"What are you doing here?" one demanded.  
  
"Me? Oh...I was just headed to the dorms, don't mind me." When he glared at him Brennan started, "Um, am I in your way or something?"  
  
"You shouldn't just be hanging round here with no business."  
  
"I-I do have business. I do. In fact..."  
  
"Tony!" a girlish voice squealed. Brennan turned his head to his left and saw a girl with shoulder-length brow hair in a tracksuit coming towards them. "Hey Tony!" she siad.  
  
"Hello Emma," the tall boy said.  
  
"So, Tony I see you already met my friend..." she gestured to Brennan and mouthed - so Tony wouldn't see - 'What's your name?'  
  
'Brennan,' he mouthed back.  
  
"...Brennan!" she finished. "I can't believe you got lost out here. I gave you totally presice directions," she said and held his arm.  
  
"Well," he told her "I think I just got took one wrong turn, and then you know, the whole thing goes haywire."  
  
'Well, doesn't matter, see you later Tony," she waved and dragged Brennan with her as she skipped while he walked next to her.  
  
Once they were away from Tony Brennan asked, "Um, who are you?"  
  
"Emma DeLauro. And you are Brennan."  
  
"Brennan Mulwray. Can I ask why you did that back there?"  
  
Emma smiled. "Because you were about to get beaten up by Tony. And I know what you were looking for." This shocked Brennan. "How do you know Mary? Or is it Kristin?"  
  
"Well...I..." Brennan hadn't worked out his cover and wasn't sure what to say.  
  
"Secret agent or something?"  
  
"Sort of..."  
  
"Strange. You don't seem the type to be an evil secret agent."  
  
"Oh, I'm not," he said. "Evil. Or a real secret agent. I just sort of work with this guy."  
  
"And he's a secret agent?"  
  
"No. We - there's four of us - just help people."  
  
"For free? There ain't enough of that round here. Cool. Well, I didn't find any clues here -"  
  
"Wait," Brennan said. "Why were you looking for clues?"  
  
"Kristin and Mary were sort of friends."  
  
"Mary's missing now too?"  
  
"Maybe," Emma said. She looked at the building in front of them and said, "You got an invite?"  
  
"Invite? To what?" Brennan wanted to know.  
  
"The party. Potential clues lie there, you know. It's invites only."  
  
"Well, then I don't have a chance of getting in."  
  
Emma smiled. "Of course you do. I can bring a guest, so then you can come with me."  
  
"Why would you do that?"  
  
"Because I want to find out what's going on, and I think you can help me. Come on," Emma said and took him with her inside the building. 


	4. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry, for the delayed update, but I've been really busy & when I have free time to write fiction I tend to end up concentrating on this original fiction of mine.  
  
Brennan sat down on the bed inside Emma's room. If not for the pink walls and stuffed teddy bear, it could have been msitaken for a guy's room since everything - the clothes, books, teddy bear - was thrown and lying around. They'd spoken a little but she didn't really know much about what had happened to her friends except for something strange happening today. Adam hadn't really said anything about sharing information so he'd said that he didn't know much either. That was really the truth, except for the part that he knew the two girls were mutants and it was more than just likely she didn't. "Hello?" a voice called.  
  
Brennan looked up and saw the brunette had returned and had finished changing her clothes. "You know, I still don't see why we couldn't go straight to the party."  
  
"Because, I can't go to a party in my tracksuit. You can only arrive at a party if you're dressed for it. It's a rule. Well, I assume you must be on a busy schedule," Emma teased, "we better get going."  
  
"But, I'm not dressed for it," Brennan mocked.  
  
Emma smiled. "It doesn't matter. You look passable. Or we can just say you didn't know there was one going on."  
  
"Oh, by the way," Brennan said as he stood up and she picked up her purse, "how am I getting in? It's invitation only."  
  
"Well, I have my invitaion," Emma said holding it up for him to see. "And it says I can bring a guest, so you can be that." Brennan nodded his head and Emma opened the door that he then held for her as she took her keys out of her pursem pausing to say, "Meaning the girls will be thinking you're my replacement boyfriend."  
  
Looking at her cute smile made him think that that didn't sound like such a bad idea. "Wait, *replacement* boyfriend? What do you mean?"  
  
"I actually already have a boyfriend," Emma said, locking the door behind them. "But he's in Chicago at the moment." Emma put the key back in her purse and started walking down the corridor, brown hair bouncing, until she realised Brennan wasn't following her. "You coming?"  
  
"Oh yeah...sorry, just stopped to think of...something," he mumbled and quickly went up to her, them not saying much to each other on the journey to the party. Brennan was mainly thinking why he had previously been thinking that her having a boyfriend was a bad thing with unwanted thoughts about how hot she looked butting in. Emma was thinking about her boyfriend.  
  
*  
  
"Emma!" a blonde girl squealed, "I'm so glad you came!"  
  
"Oh, me too Sadie," Emma said. When Sadie started eyeing Brennan approvingly, Emma added, "He's with me."  
  
"*Oh*, of course." Sadie stepped back from the door and let them come in.  
  
"She a good friend?" Brennan asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.  
  
Emma almost snorted as she switched her purse to her left hand, "I'm surprised she remembered my name. Just last week she was still calling me 'Gemma'."  
  
"Oh." As Emma picked up a glass of punch Brennan asked, "So do you want to talk to your firends, now? I can look around for stuff..."  
  
Emma shook her head. "Some students went on a trip to Chicago a few weeks back and a lot of the people I'm friends with here went on that. The only ones that didn't were...Mary and Kristin."  
  
"Okay...then do you want to look for clues with me?...or we could hang...or something..." Emma smiled at Brennan. "I guess you haven't been having much fun, then lately."  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Um...Okay."  
  
Emma smiled. "You've no idea what to say right?"  
  
"Yeah, you sure read my mind."  
  
"Alright, Brennan," Emma hopped off the stool she was sitting on and put her glass down on the table, "We better get to searching for clues."  
  
"Yeah, we should. It's just..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Where do we look for them?"  
  
"Well, we'd probably better split up. You go look over there," Emma instructed Brennan showing him where to look. Then, she went to look for clues herself.  
  
*  
  
Almost two hours later Brennan sighed and gave up. He hadn't managed to find anything yet and decided he better find Emma before he got lost on the campus. He walked past the area she said she would be as she wasn't there then, but was still having trouble finding her. Just then, he heard a voice shout. Brennan turned and saw the outline of a darkly-dressed man with Emma.  
  
"Let go of me!" Emma exclaimed desperately trying to pull her arm out of his grasp but he held on to her wrist.  
  
Brennan couldn't see the man's face, but ran up to do something about it. He knew he couldn't use his powers in fornt of Emma since he still wasn't sure if she knew about Kristin & Mary's powers or if even Emma herself was a mutant. "Hey!"  
  
The man had obviously noticed Brennan, but Brennan still couldn't see his face. Brennan prepared to fight without using his abilities as an elemental but didn't have to in the end as the man ran away the other side. This was a first for Brennan and so he was surprised. He stopped running and walked the rest of the distance up to Emma. "Are you okay?" he asked her.  
  
"Yeah," Emma let out after a deep breath. "Thanks," she almost whispered.  
  
"It's okay," Brennan said, noticing that Emma seemed really scared. "What did he want?"  
  
"I don't know. He was looking for something."  
  
"Do you think he's looking for Kristin and Mary too?" Brennan wondered.  
  
"Uh. Maybe," Emma said, hugging herself tightly as it was beginning to get cold.  
  
But for some reason - and as much as he wanted to be wrong - Brenna sensed that Emma knew more than she was saying.  
  
A/N 2: I'll try and post the next chapter sooner! 


	5. Chapter 3

Brennan rose slowly from the floor. Rubbing his eyes to awake he pushed off the cover and stood up. Suddenly, his memories of the previous day came rushing back to him and he realized where he was. He stood motionless, unsure of what to do next. The previous night he had thought about going back to the Sanctuary after doing some more hunting around the campus for clues. However, Emma had insisted on helping him. Unfortunately she turned out to be more of a hindrance for Brennan as wherever they were he constantly found himself watching her. In the end they had no clues from the search as Emma found none and Brennan never got around to looking in the first place (although he didn't admit this to Emma). He had walked her back to her room, where she had pounced the question of where he was to stay for the night. Brennan saw that it had been too late for him to go back to the Sanctuary and then return to the campus in the morning (for a hopefully more productive search) and therefore told her that he'd just hang around some places and come back in the morning. Emma wouldn't accept this answer and had made him sleep in her room. He had slept on the floor while she slept on her bed. There was another bed, for Emma's roommate Charlene (who had spent the previous night at her boyfriend's place) which Emma told Brennan he could use but he declined after seeing the state of the bed. As Brennan leaned back on the desk behind him he began to watch Emma. She was still sleeping; her covers tucked up snugly to her neck, bearing only her face. The sun just reached her face and she began to move. Her eyes suddenly stopped flickering and opened wide, looking at Brennan. As soon as she did this, he slipped, falling back on the pen on the floor, amazed that she had awoken so soon. His head hit the foot of her desk and made a large noise.  
  
"Oh my God! Brennan, are you okay?" Emma exclaimed, jumping out of bed and rushing over to him. She ran over to him and pulled him up from his arm, surprising Brennan at her strength. Now standing, Brennan looked down on her and saw she was wearing a loose white tank top with dark blue shorts. To Brennan, she looked even cuter than she had while sleeping. "I am so sorry," Emma said, referring to her stuff left on the ground.  
  
"It's okay," Brennan told her.  
  
"Does it hurt?" Emma asked, looking grimly at the side of his head that had struck the desk.  
  
"Just a little," Brennan lied. In truth, it was hurting a lot, but Brennan didn't want her to feel worse than she was obviously feeling already.  
  
Emma reached up and placed a hand on the hurt spot, and felt a tiny bump forming. Brennan looked at her and was caught by surprise when her eyes met his. Brennan expected her to move her gaze away, but her eyes stayed, both caught, captivated. Suddenly the door banged open, a dark, black-haired girl bursting in, breaking the moment, but not before she had noticed it. "Uh...sorry, I was, um, never mind," she said quickly and closed the door, putting herself out. Before Emma or Brennan could say anything, the door burst open again and she came inside, said a quick 'excuse me' to Brennan and pulled Emma outside. Since she hadn't closed the door Brennan managed to hear little bits of the conversation between Emma and the girl he presumed was Charlene. "Who is *he*?....What about Tucker?" from Charlene and "He's just a friend....What do you mean, what about Tucker?.....No I did not sleep with him Charlene!" from Emma.  
  
Soon they both came back in. Charlene stretched out a hand to Brennan and said, "Hi, I'm Charlene, Emma's roommate."  
  
He shook her hand. "Brennan."  
  
"Well, I'll be off," she said, and did just that.  
  
Emma and Brennan both stood awkwardly until Emma mumbled that she had better go and wash. Brennan nodded and waited until she had left the room before sighing and sitting back down on the floor.  
  
*  
  
Emma re-entered her bedroom a bit later, dressed with wet hair and found Brennan playing with his ring. "Are you hungry?' she asked.  
  
"Uh.not really, just.the usual."  
  
"Well," she said, "I don't actually have anything here that hasn't expired yet, but there is this place nearby."  
  
"OK," Brennan said and stood up, putting on his coat.  
  
"Wait!" Emma said suddenly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well.it's just.I don't want you to get the wrong impression of us.I mean, we're like - we don't really know each other very well, we just work together to find Kristin and Mary."  
  
"Uh.yeah," Brennan nodded.  
  
Emma followed Brennan out wondering whether she had done the right thing, but after what had happened this morning with Charlene she had wanted him to know theirs was a professional relationship. It had to be. After all, she did still have Tucker. It was just.when she had looked in his eyes.'Stop,' Emma ordered herself.  
  
"You coming?" a voice called from outside.  
  
"Yeah.I'm coming."  
  
*  
  
"You having that?" Emma asked, pointing to Brennan's second, untouched sandwich.  
  
"No, you can have it if you want it," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.  
  
"Thanks," Emma said and quickly stuffed it down.  
  
"You must be really hungry."  
  
Emma nodded and smiled apologetically. "I'm finished now. I better not eat anymore."  
  
"I'm finished too. You wanna leave."  
  
"Yeah, just give me a sec. I'll go wash my hands."  
  
"Yeah, okay," he said and watched her go. It was while sitting at the table and waiting for Emma that Brennan noticed a dark figure pass and walk inside the next-door building. Brennan hadn't noticed it before, but as he looked at it he saw that it matched well with Adam's description of one of the places that had been marked as a meeting place for the group who were supposedly doing the kidnapping. He shot up and raced into the building. Without thinking, he ran inside and ended up face to face with the man he had seen and three other guys behind him.  
  
Brennan was thinking of what to do when one asked him, "So you the new guy?"  
  
"Uh.yeah. Yes! I am the new guy."  
  
"Well, do you have it?" another asked.  
  
"Uh.."  
  
"The information!" a third exclaimed.  
  
"Oh course I have the information!" Brennan said.  
  
A slow laugh came from behind him. From the fourth, who had been silent till now. "Liar," he muttered. "This one's a fake, boys. He doesn't have the tattoo." He grabbed Brennan and showed his back to them. Brennan wondered where the tattoo was supposed to be, but then he saw a black circle with an intricate design inside on the back of the mans neck.  
  
"Get him!" one shouted and they all lunged towards him with curled fists.  
  
Brennan was just fast enough to throw a ball of energy at two before they could reach him. As he fought the remaining two, he noticed that they were human as all they could fight with were their fists and couldn't match his bolts of energy. Soon they all lay still on the floor, but before Brennan could congratulate himself he heard footsteps coming close to him. Thinking it was the person they had mistaken him for, Brennan formed an energy ball and was about to aim it at the person, when he saw who it was. "Emma."  
  
But, Emma couldn't reply. Her gaze was locked on Brennan's hand that had formed the blue ball of energy. 


	6. Chapter 4

"Emma...I-I..." Brennan started, but he had no idea what to say next. He didn't know how she felt - whether she was just shocked or even disgusted that he was a mutant, or as most people called it, 'a freak'. She just looked at him, but he couldn't read her eyes. She hadn't run or even started to move away which was a little comforting, but for all he knew she might stay there for a few more seconds and then bolt off. He couldn't stand there, just waiting like that, having to wait for her to speak first, even though he knew that was what he should do. Finally, he took a deep breath, turned around and began to walk away. He wasn't sure why he was, but it seemed that other than standing there and waiting painfully it was the only thing he could do. 'It'll be better for her,' he told himself. 'She should have never got involved. This way she'll be safer.' The thought comforted him, for reasons he didn't want to admit, even to himself. But it was a cold sort of comfort. Suddenly, he heard her voice call, "Brennan, wait!" But he couldn't. He kept walking forward until he heard her call, "It's okay. I knew you were a mutant." At that he turned round immediately.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"I knew you were a mutant. Well, at least I thought you were. I knew Kristin and Mary were so when you were looking for them I thought you had to be."  
  
"How did you know about Kristin and Mary?" Brennan asked in wonder.  
  
"I saw them using their powers one day," she told him. "I didn't want to say anything about it in case you weren't."  
  
"Then...are you a mutant?" Brennan said.  
  
Emma shook her head. "No."  
  
They stood like that some more, except this time it was a different kind of silence. A noise came from behind Emma, and before Emma could turn around to see what it was, Brennan saw that the door was opening. He could only guess who it was, but something told him it was the man he had been mistaken for.  
  
"Brennan is something wrong?" Emma asked, noticing the strange look on his face. "Brennan?" she added when he still didn't say anything and just looked straight past her.  
  
"Hey! Who are you?" shouted the man from behind her. Emma turned round as he started to move towards them. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Brennan leapt forward in front of Emma and threw a bolt of energy at the man, but he ducked and it missed him. Brennan was about to throw another one when he heard Emma squeal. He looked up and saw the man's eyes change a horrible blood shade of red until it turned black from the center outwards - as if his pupils had extended. He was bringing his hands up from his sides, but Brennan didn't want to wait around to see what would happen next. He grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her to the back door with him as he sent a bolt of energy to a beam on the ceiling so that it fell and stalled the man.  
  
They ran out and as Brennan didn't stop running, Emma did her best to stay as close as she could. He finally stopped a few blocks afterwards outside a small roadside shop.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Emma panted.  
  
"I have no idea," Brennan replied, managing to stand up straight. Emma was having a harder time and appeared to him as if she was about to fall over, so he held her by the arms.  
  
"Thanks. The last time I ran that fast was in junior high." Brennan didn't say anything. He just nodded. "You know, I kind of wanna go back."  
  
"There?" Brennan asked incredulously.  
  
"No," Emma shook her head and would have laughed if she had the energy. "To my dorm."  
  
"Oh, yeah. I should probably take you back," he answered. He looked around to get his bearings and realized where they were. "The college is that way, isn't it?" he said and pointed back in the direction they had come.  
  
Emma nodded. "Yup."  
  
"Wanna go the long way?" Brennan asked.  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
*  
  
"So Adam have you got anything yet?" Jesse asked.  
  
"I'm still working my way through them. Christopher is incredibly clever man - he codes his information before printing it out to store in the files."  
  
"Clever? Sounds more like paranoia to me," Shalimar commented.  
  
"Whichever way, it is still extremely effective. He seems to have used at least three codes on only this page."  
  
"You should see the security in that place," Jesse said. "I expected two password checkpoints, but five? You could've told me Adam."  
  
"Would you have gone if I had? And anyway, it was four last time I checked. By the way, Shalimar, have you heard from Brennan?"  
  
"No, he hasn't called."  
  
"Do you want me to go and see?" Jesse asked.  
  
"No, not yet. He might not even be there when you go and that would be a complete waste of time."  
  
"Yeah. He might have met some hot college chick," Jesse joked.  
  
*  
  
As Brennan and his 'hot college chick' walked down the corridor of a dormitory he noticed something different. "Emma? This isn't where your room is, is it?"  
  
"No," she shook her head. "This is where Mary and Kristin stayed. I thought there might be something here."  
  
"Kristin? Adam said that she lived at home."  
  
"She did, but a few weeks before she disappeared she moved in here with Mary."  
  
"How come?"  
  
"Mary and her boyfriend split and he used to stay here with her."  
  
"So Kristin moved in with her?"  
  
"They had been dating since she was fourteen."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Here we go," Emma said when she reached the right door. The door wouldn't open when she turned the handle, but Emma expected that. "Do you think you could break it down?"  
  
Brennan nodded and moved her out of the way before kicking it till it swung open.  
  
They entered the room and began looking around. Emma almost tripped on Kristin's mattress, but that usually happened when she came round - she could never see it underneath all their stuff. She sat down on the side of the bed and looked at the side table but there were no new messages on the phone. However, she did notice a small slip of paper that was being weighed down by the telephone. She picked it up and read the address in her mind, but couldn't recognize it as one she knew.  
  
"Brennan?"  
  
"Yeah?" he turned around.  
  
"I found this." She gave him the paper and upon inspection he said that he'd check it out. "You mean we'll check it out."  
  
"No, Emma this is getting too dangerous for you."  
  
"It's already gotten dangerous, Brennan."  
  
"Well, that's why I don't want you coming. Something could happen."  
  
"But -" she protested.  
  
"No, Emma," he said and held her arms. He tried to think of what he could say without telling her how he felt, but while he was thinking he noticed her blue eyes staring up at him and it somehow willed him to lean down and kiss her.  
  
She was shocked, but when she felt him she started to kiss him back, in spite of all the thousands of things her brain was screaming at her.  
  
The kiss grew and finally Brennan realized what he was doing and jumped backwards, breaking the kiss.  
  
They stood like that for a few moments before Emma muttered, "Maybe you should go - check that out."  
  
"Yeah." And he ran. 


End file.
